Inline fluid dispensers typically comprise a housing having an internal chamber, a fluid outlet port and a fluid inlet port that are in direct fluid communication through a fitted cartridge containing a dispensing material therein.
In operation of an inline fluid dispenser, a fluid stream, which enters a dispenser valve inlet of the dispenser housing, is split into two parts, a main fluid stream that flows directly through the dispenser housing from the dispenser valve inlet to a dispenser valve outlet and a secondary fluid stream that is diverted through an internal chamber of the inline dispenser before exiting through the dispenser valve outlet.
The fitted cartridges for these inline dispensers have an interior chamber, which forms part of a closed path for the secondary fluid stream. That is, the secondary fluid stream is confined by the fitted cartridge and does not flow into the internal chamber of the housing. The use of a closed path through the fitted cartridge assures that fluid flows through the dispensing material in the fitted cartridge.
Located on one end of the fitted cartridge is an inlet port that is directly mateable to the fluid outlet port of the dispenser housing to thereby provide a direct and closed flow path for the secondary fluid stream to flow into the interior of the fitted cartridge. Located on the opposing end of the fitted cartridge is an outlet port that is directly mateable to the fluid inlet port of the dispenser housing to provide a direct and closed flow path for the secondary fluid stream to flow out of the fitted cartridge. Thus the mating between the ports of the inline dispensers to the ports of their fitted cartridges provide a “closed flow path” for directing the secondary fluid stream from the main fluid stream through the fitted cartridge. An example of an inline dispenser using a fitted cartridge with a closed path is shown in King U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,315.
A number of other inline dispensers are commercially available. Typically, these commercially available inline dispensers have different shapes and sizes. Although the commercially available inline dispenser use fitted cartridges to create a closed flow path, the different inline dispensers usually have different fluid ports locations and different cartridge connection points. As a result the fitted cartridge for each inline dispenser manufacturer is unique to that manufacturer's own dispenser. Consequently the fitted cartridge from one manufacturer is not capable of being used as a replacement cartridge in an inline dispenser produced by another manufacturer because each cartridge is specifically configured to connect to the manufacture's own inline dispenser.
The present invention comprises the combination of an inline dispenser and a non-fitted cartridge. The housing of the inline dispenser has a fluid outlet port for normally directly mating to an inlet port on a fitted cartridge and a fluid inlet port for normally directly mating to an outlet port on the fitted cartridge. However, the non-fitted cartridge used in the present invention has no ports for directly mating with either the fluid outlet port or the fluid inlet port of the inline dispenser. In addition, the non-fitted cartridge need occupy only a portion of the internal chamber of the inline dispenser housing. Consequently, the combination creates an open flow path between the fluid outlet port and the fluid inlet port of the inline dispenser.
Although inline dispensers have traditionally relied on directing a secondary stream along a closed path I have discovered that one can obtain proper dispensing even though the dispenser contains an open path system. More specifically, I have discovered that one can place a non-fitted cartridge with multiple ports in the inline dispenser housing and, even though an open flow path exists in the dispenser, one can still obtain the proper dispensing. The present invention comprises a combination of an inline dispenser and a non-fitted cartridge that form an open flow path through the inline dispenser. The discovery that open flow paths can be used in an inline dispenser allows one to use non-fitted cartridges in inline dispensers that normally use fitted cartridges.
The present invention also comprises the method of replacing a “closed path” in an inline dispenser system wherein a fitted cartridge has an inlet port directly mated to the fluid outlet port of an inline dispenser and has an outlet return port directly mated to the fluid inlet port of the inline dispenser with an “open path” wherein the cartridge ports do not directly mate with either the fluid outlet port or the fluid inlet port of the inline dispenser.